Annan in Baghdad for talks on Syrian crisis

DHAKA: International mediator Kofi Annan arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on the Syrian crisis, Annan’s spokesman said.

Annan, who earlier in the day held talks in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, is on a regional tour that began with meeting Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Monday.

‘The Joint Special Envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, arrived in Baghdad. He will hold talks with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the crisis in Syria and its impact on the region,’ Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement, reports The Jerusalem Post.

Annan normally briefs the UN Security Council in New York on the results of such trips by video-link from his Geneva base and diplomats said he was expected to do so again on Wednesday.

BDST: 1954 HRS, JUL 10, 2012

Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor